


Protocol (To Be Revised as Required)

by BrighteyedJill



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Consent Issues, Established Relationship, HYDRA Trash Party, M/M, Misunderstandings, Past Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:45:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrighteyedJill/pseuds/BrighteyedJill
Summary: To deal with a new handler, the asset will need to reconstruct some previously deleted procedures.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Tea, Piglet, and all who helped make the Trash Book a reality. Long may it fester.

The most frequent question the asset’s new handler asks is, “Do you remember?”

The asset has learned that answering, “No,” is not ideal because it causes a pained expression on his handler’s face. However, lying to Steve is not allowed, and so he cannot say, “Yes,” when asked. This is a fault that will need to be corrected.

The asset’s memory is incomplete. He remembers facts. Emotional content is superfluous; it blurs the details and interferes with proper retention. On a mission, he needs data: times, locations, names. The noise of extraneous context—of emotional connotations—only distracts and confuses, and so Hydra taught him a better way to remember. They burned the method into him, and it has become indelible. This detachment has always worked effectively, as far as he knows. When Steve continues to ask about his memories, the asset understands what he must do.

 

The asset is left to his own devices if he stays in his assigned sleeping unit. Normally this is not desirable; if he is not given orders, he cannot be useful. Now, however, he has a project. Each morning after his usual exercises he devotes an hour to sitting cross-legged on the floor by the bed, working on the remembering mission.

Slowly, in fragments and flashes, he recalls moments of an earlier time: a time he was called Bucky, the alias Steve wants him to remember.

First comes a memory in amber light, the pungent smell of fish and coal dust: Brooklyn. Steve leaning his slight weight against Bucky as they stand at a window. Bucky’s face pressing against the glass as his fingers curl against the wooden sill.

**Analysis** : A handler need not be bigger or stronger than the asset to command him. The asset poses no threat to an approved handler. Still, in this memory there had been no evident tactical reason for Steve to be leaning against Bucky. That much physical contact outside of a training exercise or maintenance procedure always serves as a prelude to recreational use. In preparing to use him, Steve had maneuvered Bucky into the position he wanted with a minimal amount of force.

**Conclusion** : Steve trusts the asset to obey.

Another day, a cold draught of air sweeping under the closed door. Plates scraped empty on the table. Steve flashing an expectant grin from a straight-backed chair as he plants one socked foot against the inside of Bucky’s knee and presses firmly, spreading Bucky’s legs.

**Analysis** : Most handlers prefer the asset to obey explicit verbal or non-verbal instructions, but some want him to remain passive, or even resist. Others expect him to participate, to show initiative and intuit their needs. Rather than making a request, Steve had done what he wanted, knowing he would not meet resistance.

**Conclusion** : Steve likes to take the lead.

Next, pale dawn light and the sound of cars passing on the street below. A mattress and a pile of blankets. Bucky flat on his back. Steve naked, straddling Bucky’s hips. He reaches down to grab Bucky’s hands, puts them on his waist. “Hold on,” he orders.

**Analysis** : If the other memories might have allowed for misinterpretation, this one unambiguously illustrates the sexual nature of Steve’s use of him. The asset recognizes the flushed skin and dilated pupils as signs of arousal. He digs further, hoping to find a record of the intercourse that must have followed this moment, but there is only a blank expanse: lost time.

**Conclusion** : Steve understands Bucky’s secondary function and has made use of it previously.

After each working session, the asset mentally records these observed preferences for future use. When he has spent a week on the remembering mission, he decides he has enough information to act.

 

The asset recognizes his limitations. He has learned to work around gaps in his memory and extrapolate mission-relevant data from known facts. In the past few days, he has assembled a set of procedures reconstructed from the memories he retrieved, and now he needs only to put them into operation.

After dinner, the asset positions himself in Steve’s bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed. Steve will almost always watch television or read in the common room after dinner, but eighty-seven percent of the time, he is in bed before 22:00. The asset twines his flesh fingers between his metal ones and waits.

He is not certain how much time has passed when he notices Steve standing in the doorway watching him. Sloppy. The asset must have been thinking of something else, though of what, he cannot remember. He identifies Steve’s facial expression from the memories. Emotional context is unnecessary here; the asset can match data to expected behavioral patterns and adapt.

“You okay, Buck?” Steve asks.

“Yes.” He leans back, letting his body relax into a casual line, the way he remembers Bucky doing. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Did you remember something?” Steve’s posture changes, suddenly more alert. He steps further into the room. The asset’s actions are already having the desired effect.

“Yes.” This time, the asset doesn’t have to give a disappointing answer. He pushes to his feet. This Steve is taller than the one in the memories, but his wide eyes display the same naked curiosity. The asset tries on Bucky’s crooked smile. “A few things.”

“Good memories?” Two steps closer. Progress.

“Some of them.” The asset looks down for the count of three, letting his eyelashes brush his cheeks, then brings his eyes up to fix on Steve. “The ones about you.”

Steve starts to reach for the asset, but stops mid-motion. Still, the asset has reconstructed enough data to recognize the aborted gesture. He reaches out to curl his fingers around Steve’s palm and bring it to rest on his hip. The movement is familiar. He is confident that Steve will enjoy it.

When Steve leans into him slowly, tentative, uncertain if the asset can perform his function, the asset knows he has read the situation correctly. He prepares to initiate the re-learned procedure.


End file.
